This morning Greg & I arose to a big crashing sound in the hallway around 6:45am (it sounded like they dropped someone's breakfast room service delivery in the tile hall right near us). We decided to fall back asleep thinking there was no way they would bring Emmanuella to us until near lunch time - we remember how "Ghana Time" works, it hasn't even been 2 months since we were here the last time. At 8:40am we awoke to a quiet knock on our door and guess who it was?? There was a gorgeous little gal at our door! What a wonderful wake up call to see that face in the morning. :)
She jumped right into looking for the iPad and going through the suitcases to see what we brought for her to play with. Unfortunately, since we hadn't been up yet, I hadn't hid any of the things away for surprises for her down the road. She pretty much either saw or played with nearly everything I brought for this whole trip today! That's ok, she seems to love some repetition.
We ordered some breakfast (which E said she already ate at home) to be brought to our room. Guess what? She ate most of ours like usual. She definitely liked Greg's omelet with all of the veggies in it over my plain scrambled eggs. She also wanted tea but I had only ordered coffee for Greg so she tried that instead. I have never seen a person add that much sugar to coffee ... needless to say, she only had a few spoonfuls! (yes, spoonfuls, she ate it like soup) Then, we flew a kite in the parking lot ... because it wasn't hidden away and she had it in her head that we needed to. We were grateful we were able to keep it away from the power lines in the strong winds today! A little bit of swimming happened - the weather was very comfortable today ... not really that warm and the pool was cold. (we think they must have drained it and started over since the last time we were here because it's actually clean and the water is much cooler) Then we headed back to our room to finally shower up and do some nail painting and coloring. This kiddo can color for a LONG time ... that may come in handy on the airplane! At 3:00 we had a taxi arranged to pick us up and bring us over to where Andy & Katie (the other Bethany family that is here stuck waiting for their daughter's visa to print) are staying. They are in a very nice home of a US couple and there were several restaurants we could choose from to eat at tonight near there. We chose to go to "ChurCheese" - it is the Chuck E Cheese of Ghana. (the lettering on the outside was a complete knock off of Chuck E Cheese too - funny) Don't really think Chuck E Cheese in your mind though ... this was a tiny room with a few games (most of which were not even in working order), a small carousel (like the ones in the old indoor playlands when we were kids) and a trampoline. Emmanuella thought it was fabulous! We shared a pizza with Andy & Katie and bought our girls some chicken and fried rice. The food was really good - even the pizza was pretty normal by my standards. It was another nice night getting to know them better, they are a wonderful couple with a sweet new little girl to join their family.
We came back to the hotel tonight and we were able to Facetime with the kids back home. They could finally see and talk with Emmanuella! She had a hard time figuring it out - at first they would ask her a question and she would ask it right back. I think she thought the computer was prompting her to ask the questions. ?? She was pretty shy but it was great for us to see their faces and for them to finally see her. (and Grandma & Grandpa D too!)
We had a few "firsts" today for Emmanuella that showed just how many things are going to be new to her. For instance, we brought along a bottle of liquid handsoap for the bathroom. We had to teach her how to pump it order to get the soap out. That's one of the many, many things that will be so new to her. Can you imagine? I just can't fathom being taken away from all I ever knew as home to a whole different world where everything smells different, tastes different, IS different! She is very excited to come to the US and told us she is ready to leave with us, but really, how long until the newness and excitement wears off and she realizes that everything is different and it's the new normal. Now you get a little idea of why we need to hang at home alone for awhile when we return with her - there is so much to teach and do and her immediate family needs to be the ones to teach her so she learns to trust us and learns that we will provide for all of her needs. Honestly, I can't wait to show her!
Tomorrow we get picked up around 9:00 and will just head to the Bethany office to make sure we have all of the correct paperwork, etc. for our interview on Tuesday. Then, we expect the rest of the day we'll just hang out at the hotel.
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